Tumbling/Polishing Ammunition (Post Loading)

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Sudden Thunder

Sudden Thunder

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Is the polished appearance worth the extra step? Any other reason than appearance?
Or do you you consider it completely unnecessary, possibly dangerous, or detrimental to accuracy?
In fifty years of reloading I have never tumbled “finished” loads, but evidently some have their own reasons for performing it.
 
Sudden Thunder said:
Is the polished appearance worth the extra step? Any other reason than appearance?
Or do you you consider it completely unnecessary, possibly dangerous, or detrimental to accuracy?
In fifty years of reloading I have never tumbled “finished” loads, but evidently some have their own reasons for performing it.
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Some folks use a case lube that attracts dust and dirt so they tumble post-loading to rid of it. I like a little lube on my rifle cases, especially at or around the neck, so I don't tumble post-loading. It won't hurt anything, though. Just makes a lot of rattling noise and might dull the tips of those plastic things, if you use them.
 
I have cleaned ammo after loading. Just not in water. I know self evident. I had some really dirty military ammo and it cleaned up the crud on the outside. Sometimes I also clean a second time after sizing to clean off the lube before I prime and load.
 
dh1633pm said:
Sometimes I also clean a second time after sizing to clean off the lube before I prime and load.
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Yeah, I do two empty tumbles if its new/old brass or range pickup. I don't like getting mystery crud on my hands so I tumble in plain, untreated corm media before running brass through the universal decapper. After sizing it gts tumbled again in walnut treated with brass polish and wax. Sometimes I add a little citronella oil to make it smell nice. :)
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
Yeah, I do two empty tumbles if its new/old brass or range pickup. I don't like getting mystery crud on my hands so I tumble in plain, untreated corm media before running brass through the universal decapper. After sizing it gts tumbled again in walnut treated with brass polish and wax. Sometimes I add a little citronella oil to make it smell nice. :)
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Keeps mosquitoes away too, right?
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
Yeah, I do two empty tumbles if its new/old brass or range pickup. I don't like getting mystery crud on my hands so I tumble in plain, untreated corm media before running brass through the universal decapper. After sizing it gts tumbled again in walnut treated with brass polish and wax. Sometimes I add a little citronella oil to make it smell nice. :)
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Sounds like my routine except for the wax and citronella (Frankford brass polish is lemon scented), never considered the anti mosquito bonus. Never tumbled finished loads.
 
There is nothing wrong with tumbling load ammo in a concrete mixer/rock tumbler.

Vibratory tumblers will break the powder down and cause unsafe burn rates and pressure levels in some ammunition...... it was popular to buy water damaged 303 British for machine guns at know creek when I was a kid and tumble the brass in concrete mixers to clean off dirt and corrosion.

I don't care who on this forum disagrees with my comments regarding the use of a rotary tumbler to prevent the break down of powder IT DOES HAPPEN when a vibratory tumbler is used.

John Ross testified to this and my grandfather adhered to this advice and we tumbled 300,000 rounds of 303 British and fired it through a variety of smle, transferable Lewis and vickers machine guns.
 
One reason is to get rid of case lube, another is cleaned ammo without fingerprints won't tarnish near as fast. Also, bulk loading on a progressive can leave small debris, brass, lead, coating shavings, pieces of media, all kinds of stuff, stuff you don't want to introduce into your firearm. Polished finished ammo also tends to drop free from revolver cylinders easier after firing, often with gravity alone. It also extracts easier from semi-autos. The last and least important reason is aesthetics.
 
Well this topic comes up every now and then and I've seen discussions since 2007. I've also seen forum reports of amateur testing, but most have shown no real differences in performance. One test the ammo was tumbled for various lengths of time, up to several days, and microscopic views of the powder show no "breakdown". I don't have a hard opinion either way, and I don't bother to clean/tumble my finished handloads as they get clean enough in the initial cleaning...
 
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When I was able to reload, I cleaned dry tumbled brass during prep time. During load time, I lubed for loading; makes it easier on the die, and I crimp on my single stage in a separate step.

I don't tumble after load because I use an old tee shirt to clean and wipe final inspection especially the revolver crimp for cracks, of each completed round during wipe down before putting it away.
 
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Me thinks we have conflicting use of terminology.

Some are saying “tumbling” and seem to mean it...tumbling end over end in a rock tumbler-type gizmo. Type of media unknown. Dry I presume and hope.

Others say “tumbling” and mean using a vibratory tumbler which isn’t really the same type of action. Type of media not specified but presumably walnut or corncob so the rounds are kind of “floating around” in the dry media.

I have a wet tumbler, a dry vibratory tumbler, and a wet vibratory tumbler. I’ve never tumbled loaded ammo but if I did it’d only be...well, never mind, I’m not going to do it.
 
CQB45ACP said:
Me thinks we have conflicting use of terminology.

Some are saying “tumbling” and seem to mean it...tumbling end over end in a rock tumbler-type gizmo. Type of media unknown. Dry I presume and hope.

Others say “tumbling” and mean using a vibratory tumbler which isn’t really the same type of action. Type of media not specified but presumably walnut or corncob so the rounds are kind of “floating around” in the dry media.

I have a wet tumbler, a dry vibratory tumbler, and a wet vibratory tumbler. I’ve never tumbled loaded ammo but if I did it’d only be...well, never mind, I’m not going to do it.
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It’s like reading a article with the conclusion ripped out?!?!?! “but if I did it’d only be...” what??? inquiring minds wants to know
 
KY DAN said:
I don't care who on this forum disagrees with my comments regarding the use of a rotary tumbler to prevent the break down of powder IT DOES HAPPEN when a vibratory tumbler is used.
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So long as you do not overfill the VCC (vibratory case cleaner) with cartridges, the experience will cause no degradation of the propellant.

So long as the cartridges are able to freely "swim" with the toroidal current, most of the vibration is applied to the lightweight media.

Many folks think that VCCs clean by making cases vibrate rapidly against the media. Just the opposite is true, the much-lower-mass media vibrates against the cases.

Some, who haven't made the effort to understand the VCC equipment & process may overfill the bowls.

If you put too many cartridges (or cases) in the bowl so there is no flow to the media & items, they will be subjected to most of the vibration because they are locked in a static position. They will get cleaner but it will take much longer, be horribly inefficient and cause increased wear on the VCC. In this condition it seems plausible to me that there may, eventually, be some degradation to the propellant in some types of cartridges ... but I have no experience with that.

I have cleaned a LOT of dirty/ filthy/greasy/yuck milsurp ammo (much of it old/ancient) by this method (I use crushed corn cob media, fwiw). Even 65 year old M7z. I have tested this Internet EEK! Theory prior to doing much VCC cleaning of "new" batches of old, dirty milsurp (my tests all involved letting the VCC run for 5-6 hours). I know that I have and I have seen it mentioned by many others. I even recall reading several years ago that someone here tested this to the extreme, using day(s?)-long runs in a VCC. No Issues.

So ... with both sides of the question represented to some degree, everyone wondering about this possible Issue has more complete information from which to make an better-informed decision for themselves. ;)
 
I did walk away from my plan to use cement mixers to tumble brass, and finished ammo. Actually, based on input from THR. Several gentlemen told me I would not be happy with it, would damage brass, and lead projectiles. By gawd he was right. I ran a couple of tests with 3 different models of cement mixers (one mine, 2 borrowed, all 3 with plastic drums) and the results were mediocre at best, with some loaded ammo having severly damaged bullets, and some of the brass being bent and dented badly. Plus, the brass looked horrible, and it was a huge mess in the shop. So maybe there is a certain type/brand/speed that you need to make this work, but I decided the effort was not worth it. I went back to my big Dillon vibratory tumblers, and that's what I'm sticking with.
 
Never done loaded, don't tumble brass all that often, just generally an inspection when laying them out. As to getting the lube off I just clean it off with a golf towel hanging on the press.....see golf is good for something.

I don't load large runs, for me 100 rounds is a large run. I mainly do rifle ammo.
 
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